IoT plays a core role in many businesses. The vast amounts of data IoT devices generate can be analyzed by AI for more effective decision-making, to solve business problems or to make processes more efficient — but these systems are hampered by cheap, poor-quality IoT connectivity. Instead, organizations should look for diverse, high-capacity, enterprise-grade network solutions offering global reach and flexible, cost-effective usage.
In 2025, the number of IoT devices worldwide was estimated to be 19.8 billion, and it’s predicted this will hit 40.6 billion by 2034. These devices are widely used for enterprise applications, like logistics and tracking, controlling autonomous vehicles, environmental monitoring, and smart vending.
IoT devices create enormous quantities of data. The engines on a Boeing 737, for example, generate 20 terabytes of data every hour. It can be difficult for humans to make sense of information at this scale, which is where AI comes in.
AI has the capacity to gather, process, and analyze this data on a huge scale. For example, it can use data collected by IoT sensors on factory machinery to predict when equipment will fail, and flag it up for maintenance before that happens.
The combination of AI technology with IoT infrastructure is known as AIoT. Almost all AIoT use cases have one thing in common: Reliable connectivity is critical.
The Cost of Poor IoT Connectivity
Almost three-quarters of IoT decision-makers and implementers say that near-100% global connectivity is crucial to their IoT business case. But only 2% of businesses hit the level of uptime needed for high-performance IoT.
Without reliable connectivity, IoT data can’t reach the AI system for analysis, slashing the value of this information. In fact, just over one third of businesses say poor IoT connectivity is holding back their AI and machine learning efforts.
This has a direct impact on business operations, with organizations reporting the top risks as:
- an inability to gather timely and accurate data due to device downtime, leading to poor business decisions (36%)
- damage to company reputation (36%)
- a loss of operational efficiency and increased costs (35%)
Legacy infrastructure and cheap, poor-quality services are two of the main culprits for unreliable connectivity. So how can businesses make sure that their networks are up to the job?
Agentic AI Cuts Through Network Complexity We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Pipe
It might sound basic, but making sure the network has enough capacity to handle AI traffic is fundamental.
AIoT involves moving massive quantities of data between the devices generating them and the systems that process and analyze the information, and we’ve found it’s common for enterprises to underestimate how much capacity they need.
The demand for bandwidth is likely to increase further with the rise of agentic AI, since each AI agent might call on many different resources over the network to achieve its goal. According to research firm Omdia, monthly AI-enriched network traffic is forecast to grow at a staggering rate of 120% (CAGR) from 2023 to 2030.
What happens if enterprises aren’t prepared for the bandwidth demands of AI and IoT? The network going slowly might not be quite as catastrophic as its going down. But poor connectivity means that, at best, AIoT isn’t going to deliver properly on its promises — and at worst, these systems might become next to useless.
Will Your Backup Links Actually Keep You Connected?
It’s not only the primary connections that need attention, either. Businesses also need enough capacity on their backup connectivity so that operations don’t grind to a halt if the primary link goes down.
But what about network redundancy and diversity?
Many providers offer network redundancy that’s made up of two connections of the same type. This helps to improve network reliability, but if the two connections are sharing the same infrastructure, this doesn’t offer much protection. An issue with one connection is likely to affect the other — imagine construction work damaging a duct carrying both fiber links, for example.
Making sure that primary and backup connections of the same type come from different providers adds another layer of redundancy, so long as they don’t share the same path into the location.
True network diversity, though, comes from having two or more connections that use different technologies, like wireline, cellular, or satellite. This significantly reduces the chances of an incident affecting both primary and backup connections.
Satellite is an increasingly affordable option for locations where fiber is unavailable or cellular reception is poor and has the added bonus of being less affected by blackouts and natural disasters.
Automatic failover is another critical piece of the puzzle, so that there are no interruptions to business operations if the primary link goes down. Automatic failback to the primary connection is less widely discussed, but it’s important to switch back as soon as possible, since primary connections are often higher-performance and more cost-effective than the backup link.
Carrier Switching Can Offer Cost Savings
The need to improve network diversity is leading enterprises towards partners that offer a range of connectivity types from a selection of different carriers for all their worldwide locations.
Instead of the complexity enterprises face in managing these services, providers, and locations separately, sourcing solutions from a single provider simplifies the network and makes it more economical. To keep things straightforward, it’s important to look for a provider with a single billing and management platform, and standardized costs and service levels across different countries.
Using eSIMs that can dynamically switch between different carriers depending on price can make enterprise-grade cellular IoT connectivity much more cost-effective than many businesses imagine. Or if network speed is a greater business priority, automatic eSIM management can change the connection to the carrier offering the highest speed.
Some carriers have agreements in place with other network operators that allow enterprises to share pooled data across different countries. For example, a business operating in southwestern Europe might not use all its allowance in Portugal, but data sharing agreements would allow it to make use of that unused data in Spain instead.
Enterprises Can’t Allow IoT Security To Be an Afterthought
Nearly half of IoT connections to company IT systems come from high-risk or vulnerable devices, demonstrating that these endpoints are still often overlooked when it comes to securing network breach points. Unsurprisingly, three-quarters of organizations using IoT admitted to having experienced an IoT-related security breach in the past 12 months.
While poorly secured devices are a key concern, connectivity plays its part, too. Many businesses are using consumer SIMs to connect IoT devices. Unlike enterprise-grade eSIMs, these don’t provide the levels of security that organizations need to keep themselves safe.
Zero trust and secure access service edge (SASE) models provide another level of protection by making sure that attackers can’t easily move sideways through the network if a breach takes place. Unifying network and security onto a single, next-generation platform also helps, as it removes blind spots, improves visibility, and makes it easier to keep patches up to date.
Cost-Effective Connectivity That Makes the Most Out of AIoT
To get real value out of IoT and AI deployments, then, businesses need to move away from consumer-grade connectivity that’s inexpensive but doesn’t meet the performance requirements of AIoT. Enterprise-grade connectivity has the scalability, reliability, global reach, and security that AIoT demands — but with a provider that offers dynamic switching and data sharing plans, it doesn’t have to cost the earth.